Jump to content

Western Galla Confederation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Western Oromia
1936
CapitalGore
Historical eraSecond Italo-Ethiopian War
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Ethiopian Empire
Italian East Africa

The Macha Oromo Confederation, also known as the Western Oromo Confederation or simply as Macha Oromo, was an Oromo separatist movement in Abyssinia during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. The movement sought to split off from Abyssinia and become a mandate of the United Kingdom, but gained no international recognition.

Captain Esme Nourse Erskine was the British Consul at Gore from 1928 to 1936.[1] During the Italian invasion 1935-1936, Erskine helped the Western Oromo Confederation chiefs with their application, which he probably drafted, to the League of Nations, in which Oromo chiefs asked “to be placed under a British mandate … until we achieve self government”. He forwarded the applications to the British Foreign Office.[2] The British government declined to forward these applications to the League of Nations.[3]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ London Gazette 4 December 1928 Issue 33444 page 7975.
  2. ^ Morton, C. (2020). The Anthropological Lens: Rethinking EE Evans-Pritchard. Oxford University Press, USA. DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198812913.003.0006. p.149/150. Photographs of the applications, dated 25 May 1936, are in the National Archives, FO 371/20206.
  3. ^ National Archives, FO 371/20206 and Heli von Rosen (2013), Gustaf von Rosen: An Airborne Knight-errant (English translation Printed privately), p.81 Carl Gustaf von Rosen: An Airborne Knight-errant - Heli von Rosen - Google Books.

Sources

[edit]
  • Smidt, Wolbert. "Western Galla Confederation". Encyclopaedia Aethiopica.
  • Gebissa, E. (2002). The Italian Invasion, the Ethiopian Empire, and Oromo Nationalism: The Significance of the Western Oromo Confederation of 1936. Northeast African Studies, 9(3), new series, 75-96. Retrieved December 16, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41931281
  • Zewde, B. (1987). An Overview and Assessment of Gambella Trade (1904-1935). The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 20(1), 75-94. doi:10.2307/219279